Developing new green energy materials

We are exploring and developing new materials for the next generation of green energy devices, including solar cells, lithium batteries, thermoelectrics and fuel cells. Materials performance lies at the heart of the development of green energy technologies, and computational methods now play a vital role in modelling and
predicting the atomic-scale properties of novel materials.

One area of research, in collaboration with the 5 Yr EPSRC Programme Grant Energy Materials: Computational Solutions is to understand the ionic and electronic transportation within hybrid halide perovskite solar cells, the fastest-advancing solar technology to date. Through this knowledge and in collaboration with experimental groups in the CSCT and elsewhere we can begin to predict and design new molecular architectures, essential to make these devices a daily reality.

“Developing new sustainable materials holds the key to cheaper and more efficient solar cells for homes and rechargeable batteries for electric cars.”Professor Saiful Islam